Advertising’s greatest competition no longer comes from other advertising.

It comes from Netflix. YouTube. TikTok. Podcasts. Gaming. Creators.

People today have more content to choose from than ever before. And more ways than ever to skip advertising — or simply ignore it.

The logical response to that is actually quite simple:

Produce content that no one wants to skip.

That is where branded entertainment begins.

The principle is not new. Brands have always told stories. What is new is how decisively the boundaries between advertising and entertainment are dissolving.

A film no longer has to explain in 30 seconds why a product is better. A brand can produce a series, a documentary, a format or a story that people find interesting even when the logo is not constantly on screen.

At first, that sounds like a loss of control.

But it may be the opposite.

Because brands that tell good stories gain something classic advertising struggles to create: voluntary attention.

The decisive question is therefore no longer:

How do we get our message into the content?

But:

What content would people want to watch even if our brand were not paying for it?

Whoever finds a good answer to that may already have taken the most important step from advertising to entertainment.

#frischebrise|